Migrant small boats beach patrol deal with France extended hours before deadline

The announcement from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood – after last-minute talks with France – comes just hours before the agreement was due to expire at midnight

Shabana Mahmood has extended a deal with France attempting to stop migrants boarding small boats in Northern France.

The announcement from the Home Secretary after last-minute talks came just hours before the agreement was due to expire at midnight. The deal – first signed in 2023 – sees the UK pay for French beach patrols in an effort to disrupt smuggling gangs.

The Home Office said French law enforcement and intelligence activity will now continue for a further two months – at a cost of £16.2million. It said 700 officers from units dedicated to intercepting small boats will patrol the French coastline round-the-clock.

Negotiations will also continue to revamp the deal during the two-month extension. Ms Mahmood said: “Our work with France has stopped 42,000 attempts by illegal migrants to make the journey across the Channel.

“While we finalise a new and improved UK-France deal, French law enforcement operations to stop illegal migrants in France will continue. I will do whatever it takes to restore order and control at our borders.”

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A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary is driving a hard bargain with the French to deliver the best deal for the British people to prevent illegal migrants crossing the channel. Essentially getting more bang for our buck.”

When it was announced in 2023, the previous Tory government said the £478 million package would fund a new detention centre in France and hundreds of extra law enforcement officers on French shores.

The number of crossings have risen in the following years, with some 41,472 people arriving in the UK by small boat in 2025.

Xavier Ducept, France’s junior minister for the sea, has criticised the UK for making demands that risk the lives of asylum seekers. According to Le Monde, he told a French parliamentary commission of inquiry last week: “What we want is for … the British to contribute to funding interception systems, which are very expensive.

“But they must not make this funding conditional on a type of efficiency that could be extremely dangerous for migrants, for the (security) services, and for France … rescue comes first. And the law.”